Kiev Authorities Take Measures to “Remove Traces of Torture”

Original by Boris Rozhin (Colonel Cassad); Translated by J.Hawk exclusively for SouthFront

Prior to the arrival of a UN delegation to Ukraine, SBU is “sweeping the trail” of its abuses and torture of citizens who have been arrested or taken into custody.

We, CyberBerkut, received a secret document from the hands of genuine patriots of the Ukrainian State, which implicates the Ukraine Security Service (SBU) in concealing instrument and traces of torture, and concealing inhumane treatment of detained citizens on the eve of the arrival of UN delegation from the Subcommittee for the Prevention of Torture and Other Cruel, Inhumane, or Degrading Treatment and Punishment.The document we are publishing is a telegram signed by the SBU head, Army General V. Gritsak, addressed to the “directors of departments, directorates, regional, city, and local institutions and subdepartments of the SBU, and the director of the special SBU unit operating in the ATO zone.”

We are going to cite the most interesting, from the point of view of the world community (and extremely undesirable from the SBU’s point of view) fragments of the message:

“…During the period of 5-9 September of this year, Ukraine will be once again visited by a delegation from the Subcommittee for the Prevention of Torture and Other Cruel, Inhumane, or Degrading Treatment and Punishment (henceforth referred to as UN delegation). The visit will be conducted as a continuation of the UN visit of possible detention centers at the invitation of Ukrainian government, that was interrupted in May…””…In connection with that, the foreign delegation intends to pay particular attention to the monitoring of SBU’s respect for basic human rights and liberties, and to verify unconfirmed reports concerning unlawful detention in SBU’s facilities…” “…The UN delegation will prepare a report on the basis of the visit’s results, which will then influence Ukraine’s international image and will serve as a basis for continuing EU and US sanctions policy toward Russia. On the basis of the preceding, the chiefs of offices and departments listed earlier are to immediately begin preparing for UN delegation’s visit and organizing collaboration with the delegation. With that purpose in mind:”

“1. Take exhaustive measures consistent with Ukraine Law ‘On State Secrets’ and normative acts in order to ensure information security and preventing leaks of classified information during UN delegation’s visit to SBU’s facilities…”

“2. Particular attention is to be paid to preserving secrecy… …With that purpose in mind: –develop a plan of ensuring secrecy regime during UN delegation visit, which ought to include the necessary range of organizational and technical measures concerning the protection of state secrets; –adopt exhaustive measures to prevent leaks of state secrets through technical channels; –check all possible routes that could be taken by the foreign visitors on the territory of SBU facilities…”

“5. Anticipate the possibility that the UN delegation will visit all the SBU facilities, which is to be conducted only with the accompaniment of the local director…”

“6. Take measures to remove any signs that might give reason for the UN delegation to interpret them as instruments (places) of torture, abuse, or other cruel, inhumane, or degrading treatment or punishment…”

“8. In the event of a UN delegation visit to an SBU facility: –temporarily suspend all operations and activities being conducted by the unit being visited. –warn UN delegation representatives against using technical photo-, video-, and audio-recording equipment at the SBU installation; –immediately inform higher officials of the visit; –demand that the UN delegation show the list of its authorized activities…””Note: the UN delegation was officially informed that the only SBU facility where detainees are being held [yes, yes, THE ONLY ONE, how funny] is the temporary detention isolation facility of the Pre-Trial Investigation Department in Kiev, located at the Askold Lane 3-A, Kiev.”10. Upon the conclusion of UN delegation visit destroy this telegram in accordance with standard procedures.”

PS. I think it no longer makes particular sense to destroy the telegram. We can see from its content that the SBU leadership is pursuing a wide range of organizational measures in order to conceal the evidence of its crimes which have not been a secret to anyone for a long time. What the SBU is doing has been compiled in the outstanding and highly informative reports by Maksim Grigoryev.

Nurse Olga captured on October 15, 2014, tells the following: “When I was interrogated at the SBU, one of them showed me an iron wire shaped like a spiral. He asks: “Do you know what it’s called? This is Bandera’s Python. I will choke you with it until you start talking.” Militiaman Yevgeniy, captured on September 10, 2014 by SBU officers, tells the following: “At the SBU, they put that wire around my neck, kicked me, struck my head and kidneys with rifle butts, placed a bag over my head and then poured water over it. Later, already at the isolation detention facility, they hit my head using Ukraine Criminal Code.”

SBU’s various crimes perpetrated on the citizens of Ukraine and neighboring countries, including on prisoners of war, have been documented in a number of written and video testimonies by the victims of Ukraine’s secret services. For a long time, Europe has been turning a blind eye on these crimes, but over time, the amount of information about SBU’s criminal activity has reached such a level that it has become impossible not to notice it, hence the renewal of interest by European media in Ukraine’s secret prisons and torture, which from the point of view of European citizens is a continuation of the multi-year theme of secret CIA prisons on EU territory, in which people, many of whom were innocent, were tortured for years without any investigation or trial. This issue is a painful one to the European media and public opinion, which explains SBU’s efforts to conceal the evidence of its crimes in order to make the reports of torture and secret prisons appear untrustworthy or at the very least as isolated excesses.

This explains such documents aimed at concealing the crimes (just as the SS issued orders in the final stages of WW2 to conceal the crimes committed at the concentration camps).

These leaks also indicate that the SBU is still suffering from major security problems, since internal documents continue to leak into the internet, yet again confirming the criminal nature of that organization.